What steps should I take to accomplish my goal in networking?

I have used C for a long time, but I've never learned any networking. I wanted to start to learn it with my experience with external libraries such as SDL. The problem I face most times is that I can't get it to compile, or I just don't know how to set the linker. I shouldn't have as much trouble, since I learned a lot from trying to troubleshoot when I was installing SDL in GCC and Code:Blocks. My eventual goal is to be able to send an email from my program using my online account. Which should be possible with a decent knowledge of networking. I'm lost as to where to start, since all I know is some basic fundamentals of servers ( Bind, Listen, Accept, Send ). As to how to use clients, I'm completely lost. I'd rather not use winsock either, since it'll be very Windows specific and I've learned that those functions are not super compatible even with other Windows computers. SDL_net looked interesting, but I could never find a whole lot of information on it on google. I would appreciate your help if you can give me some kind of advice.

"Some people think they can outsmart me, maybe. Maybe. I've yet to meet one that can outsmart bullet" - Meet the Heavy, Team Fortress 2

I looked at it, but I'm not sure which one I should choose for my system at all. Which is Windows 7. Of course, I don't want Windows only functions. Since I know nothing about networking except some foundation concepts, I don't want to get into a tutorial and have to discover that I can't accomplish my goal.

Last edited by HelpfulPerson; 09-01-2013 at 09:40 AM.

"Some people think they can outsmart me, maybe. Maybe. I've yet to meet one that can outsmart bullet" - Meet the Heavy, Team Fortress 2